Sullei chipped carefully at the block of wood resting in his palm, though he had long since stopped paying attention to the shape he was carving.
His heart would not calm down.
The small scratching sound of the blade against wood should have been soothing. Familiar. Predictable. Instead, it vanished beneath the pounding inside his chest.
Another person.
Another human being.
The reality still felt impossible.
For fifteen years the only voices Sullei had known were: the wind, the crackling of fire, the distant screams of things crawling beneath the Potholes, and the noises Doomsday made when she dreamed.
Now someone else occupied his shelter.
Someone alive.
Someone talking.
A lot.
"You're not going to hurt me, are you?"
Amina's voice cut through the room carefully, carrying a tension so thin it sounded ready to snap.
Sullei paused mid-carve.
The question genuinely confused him.
He slowly turned his head toward her.
She sat buried beneath layers of fur near the massive bedframe, clutching the blanket tightly beneath her chin. Only her curls and wide brown eyes remained visible above the pelts.
He stared.
Then let out a sharp breath through his nose.
Hurt her?
He had dragged her half-dead body through a blizzard, cleaned blood from her skin, stitched her wound closed, and sacrificed medicinal supplies he'd spent months preserving.
Why would he suddenly decide to kill her now?
Humans made no sense anymore.
He shook his head once and returned to carving.
"Okay," Amina whispered, though she sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him.
Silence settled again.
The fire crackled warmly nearby while snow hissed softly against the outer walls of the shelter.
Sullei almost relaxed.
Then—
"And you won't… touch me, right?"
The carving knife stopped moving entirely.
Sullei blinked slowly.
What?
His brow furrowed deeply.
Touch her?
Why would he—
His thoughts abruptly stopped.
Oh.
Oh.
The realization hit him all at once.
She was afraid of him.
Not because of the axe.
Not because of Doomsday.
Because he was a giant stranger who had carried her unconscious body into his home.
Sullei immediately felt heat crawl uncomfortably beneath his skin.
He stood too quickly, nearly startling himself with the sudden movement.
Amina visibly tensed beneath the blankets.
Right. That didn't help.
Sullei turned away immediately and crossed the room toward an old cabinet shoved against the far wall. The wood creaked loudly beneath his weight with every step.
Behind him, he could practically feel her eyes glued to his back.
The shelter suddenly felt far too small.
Sullei crouched near the cabinet, his spine giving a faint crack from the motion. He dug through old scavenged junk: rusted tools, preserved herbs, broken machine parts collected over years of wandering.
Finally, he found it.
A dusty whiteboard.
The marker beside it looked half-dead.
Good enough.
He wiped the surface clean against his forearm and quickly scribbled something down.
Then he turned and held it toward her.
Amina squinted.
Then read aloud.
"Do you want me to?"
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Even the fire seemed quieter.
Sullei realized his mistake immediately.
Amina stared at him in complete horror.
Her cheeks turned violently red.
"OF COURSE NOT!" she exploded.
The force of her voice made Doomsday lift her head from beside the fireplace.
"Why would you even ASK that?!"
Sullei immediately regretted everything.
Amina buried her burning face into one hand.
"Oh my God…"
Sullei looked away instantly.
This was going terribly.
He should have stayed alone.
The girl let out an embarrassed groan into the blanket while Sullei aggressively erased the whiteboard with the side of his hand like he could physically remove the interaction from existence.
For several painful seconds neither of them looked at each other.
Then—
Amina snorted.
Sullei glanced toward her cautiously.
She was trying not to laugh.
That somehow felt worse.
"This is insane," she muttered to herself. "I almost died climbing out of an apocalypse hole just to get interrogated by a mute mountain man."
Sullei frowned slightly.
Mountain man?
Amina suddenly looked around the shelter again, her expression shifting.
"Wait."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Where are my things?"
Sullei froze.
Ah.
That.
He slowly looked toward the far storage room.
Amina followed his gaze immediately.
"My backpack," she said carefully. "And my knives."
She pointed accusingly toward him.
"There were twelve of them."
Sullei held up both hands slightly in a calming gesture.
"You DID hide them!"
He shrugged.
Amina's eyes widened.
"You actually stole my stuff?"
Sullei immediately shook his head firmly.
Not stole.
Absolutely not stole.
"Then where is it?"
He hesitated.
Wrong answer incoming.
Sullei grabbed the whiteboard again.
The marker squeaked loudly as he wrote.
Amina snatched the board from his hands before he even finished.
Her eyes scanned the message.
Then narrowed into pure outrage.
"You hid my weapons because"—she read louder—"'you will try to kill me in my sleep'?!"
Sullei crossed his arms defensively.
Well.
Yes.
That seemed reasonable.
Amina looked personally offended.
"I am NOT going to kill you in your sleep!"
Sullei slowly raised an eyebrow.
Really?
She had:
floating knives
impossible powers
appeared from the abyss
stabbed Doomsday
threatened him already
From his perspective she was absolutely sleep-murder capable.
Amina pointed at him furiously.
"You literally swung an axe at my head!"
Self-defense, Sullei thought immediately.
He pointed toward Doomsday.
Amina looked genuinely offended by that too.
"She tried to EAT me!"
Doomsday let out a lazy grunt from beside the fire as if personally insulted by the accusation.
"Yes, YOU!" Amina snapped toward the wolf.
Doomsday yawned.
Traitorous beast.
Sullei sat back down near the fire before this somehow became even more chaotic.
He resumed carving carefully.
The familiar motion helped steady him slightly.
Behind him, Amina kept muttering under her breath.
"This is unbelievable…"
Scratch.
"I get stranded on the frozen surface…"
Scratch.
"…and the first human I meet is an emotionally constipated barbarian."
Sullei paused.
Emotionally what?
He glanced back at her.
Amina immediately pointed at him.
"Don't look at me like that. You KNOW this situation is weird."
Honestly?
Fair.
Sullei returned to carving.
For a while only the crackling fire filled the room again.
Then—
Something shifted.
The atmosphere changed.
Amina's gaze moved subtly toward the storage room again.
Toward where her weapons were hidden.
Sullei noticed immediately.
His shoulders tightened slightly.
Amina noticed THAT immediately.
The tension returned all at once.
"You're really not giving my knives back?"
Sullei shook his head firmly.
Amina stared at him.
Then at Doomsday.
Then at the axe near the fireplace.
Then back at him.
"You seriously think I'm dangerous."
Sullei looked at her like the answer was obvious.
Amina laughed once in disbelief.
"You're built like a war crime and somehow I'm the dangerous one?"
Sullei pointed very deliberately toward the floating metal spoon beside her.
Amina blinked.
The spoon rose awkwardly into the air.
Right.
Fair enough.
Sullei pointed harder.
Exactly.
Amina rolled her eyes.
"It's called a Psychic-Implant. Not witchcraft."
The word meant nothing to him.
"Okay, technically it IS kind of witchcraft…"
Sullei's expression darkened immediately.
Amina sighed.
"That was a joke."
He clearly did not believe her.
The fire crackled loudly.
Sullei bent down and resumed carving again, though now he kept one eye on her constantly.
Amina noticed.
"You're scared of me."
Sullei's knife stopped.
A long silence followed.
Then:
A single nod.
Honest.
Immediate.
That surprised her.
"You really think I'd hurt you?"
Another pause.
Then—
He nodded again.
Amina stared at him.
For the first time since waking up, she noticed something beneath his fear.
Not hatred.
Recognition.
Like he'd seen something like her before.
Something terrible.
The realization unsettled her.
Before she could ask—
The carving knife ripped from Sullei's hand.
The room instantly changed.
The blade hovered in the air between them, vibrating violently with psychic force.
Sullei moved immediately.
Not clumsily.
Not helplessly.
Fast.
His body shifted between Amina and Doomsday instinctively while his remaining eye locked onto the floating weapon with pure survival focus.
But underneath that focus—
terror.
Real terror.
Amina stood slowly from the bed.
The firelight flickered unnaturally around her as invisible force pulsed outward from her body.
Small objects across the room began trembling.
Wood creaked.
Metal rattled.
The hanging tools swayed gently.
"I'm not going to hurt you," Amina said quietly.
The calmness in her voice felt colder than the storm outside.
"But I need you to understand something."
Sullei's gaze darted toward the bone axe near the fireplace.
Instantly the axe launched upward.
It flew across the room so violently that Doomsday yelped.
The blade stopped inches beneath Sullei's throat.
Cold air brushed against his scarred skin.
He froze completely.
Memory crashed into him like a tidal wave.
Blood.
Screaming.
A man with impossible eyes.
Pressure crushing his throat.
His family dying in snow.
Sullei's breathing became ragged instantly.
No.
No no no.
Not again.
Amina stepped toward him slowly.
The floating knife followed beside her shoulder.
"You hid my things," she said softly. "You watched me while I slept. You keep calling me a witch."
Sullei swallowed hard.
"I don't want to hurt you," she continued.
The axe pressed slightly harder against his neck.
"But I WILL if I have to."
Sullei clicked his teeth sharply.
Doomsday exploded forward instantly.
The wolf charged across the room in a blur of white fur and teeth—
—and the entire bed ripped free from the wall.
The massive wooden frame flew sideways with terrifying force and slammed Doomsday against the stone wall.
The room shook.
A loud yelp tore from the wolf as the bed pinned her beneath its weight.
Sullei's heart nearly stopped.
"DOOMSDAY—"
Only broken air escaped his ruined throat.
He raised both hands immediately.
Total surrender.
Absolute surrender.
Amina stood directly in front of him now.
Tiny compared to him physically.
Yet somehow she controlled the entire room.
The fire bent strangely around her psychic field.
The axe hovered at his throat.
The knife floated beside her.
Every survival instinct in Sullei's body screamed one truth:
Witch.
Not metaphor.
Not insult.
Witch.
Amina stared up at him with exhausted fury burning behind her eyes.
"I don't want to fight you," she said quietly.
The room trembled softly around her.
"But I am NOT helpless. Am I understood?"
For several seconds Sullei couldn't move.
Could barely breathe.
Then—
He nodded quickly.
Amina exhaled.
The axe clattered harmlessly onto the floor.
The knife dropped beside the fire.
The bed lifted slowly away from Doomsday before settling back into place with a heavy THUD.
The wolf stumbled free immediately, whining and disoriented but alive.
Relief hit Sullei so hard his knees nearly weakened.
Doomsday limped toward him quickly, pressing against his side.
Sullei crouched immediately, checking her injuries with trembling hands.
No blood.
Bruised.
Scared.
Alive.
Thank God.
Amina suddenly looked exhausted.
The psychic pressure filling the room faded rapidly. She swayed slightly on her feet before catching herself against the wall.
Blood trickled slowly from one nostril.
Using that much power had cost her.
Sullei noticed immediately.
Of course it hurts her.
The realization complicated everything.
Slowly, cautiously, Sullei retrieved his carving knife from the floor.
Then he walked around Amina carefully.
Not turning his back fully.
Not making sudden movements.
Treating her exactly like one would treat an unstable explosive.
Amina noticed that too.
Something about it hurt more than she expected.
Sullei sat beside the fire again.
His massive hands visibly shook as he resumed carving.
Across the room, Amina slowly sat back onto the bed.
Neither of them spoke.
Doomsday kept herself pressed tightly against Sullei's side now, golden eyes locked nervously onto Amina.
Outside, the storm roared against the frozen world.
Inside the shelter, firelight flickered across stone walls while two deeply damaged people sat in uneasy silence.
And for the first time in fifteen years—
Sullei realized he was afraid inside his own home.
Oh boy.